Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Cinemalaya 2012: Thoughts on Kamera Obskura and Mga Mumunting Lihim

In Kamera Obskura,
Raymond Red seemed like he wanted to say something about the current
state of Philippine politics, but he certainly didn’t say it well and
I’m not even sure if he said it at all.

This silent film boasts of excellent
cinematography, with Red showing his masterful eye for visual direction
with the film’s great play on light, darkness and the shadows that mark
their interactions. The opening sequence, in particular, was well-shot
and featured a clever take on perspective. But the film is weighed down
by the heavy-handed use of vague political metaphors and the film’s
crutch on title cards. I spent a lot of time reading the long, verbose
written dialogue instead of letting the action speak for itself, which
is what makes silent films great to begin with. And the movie’s cast
including Pen Medina and Joel Torre was surely more than capable of
conveying thoughts and ideas without the use of words.

Furthermore, there was something very
off-putting about the structure of the film itself. The silent movie is
actually a movie within a movie. It is book-ended by scenes featuring
the critics and archivists who supposedly found the reel hailing the
film as a great piece of subversive art instead of the movie leaving it
up to the audience to decide its merits. Because if you ask me, the
film’s incoherent political message, unoriginal critique on government
(yes, we know that Philippine bureaucracy is rotten and corrupt — what
are you adding to the conversation?) and sense of self-importance make Kamera Obskura fall short of greatness.

Joey Reyes’ film is a refreshing dramedy
that showcases fine acting from the film’s four actresses. Upon the
death of Mariel (Judy Ann-Santos), she leaves behind a box of diaries to
her best friend Carla (Iza Calsado) containing her thoughts and
feelings towards her and their two other friends, Sandy (Agot Isidro)
and Olive (Janice de Belen). This movie is about the purging and
exorcising of the secrets that lay hidden in their friendship, and the
catharsis that comes along with the unveiling of these truths that may
be better left unexpressed.

What makes this movie work is its script
that realistically captures the complications that normally come even
with the best of friendships. The backstabbing, the competitiveness, the
toleration of each other’s flaws — these are all ironically part and
parcel of any barkada, especially those that have lasted for a
very long time. The movie examines the underlying bases of real,
enduring camaraderies and the extent to which we can take crap from the
people closest to us.

Great care has been taken in the writing of
the four main characters, with each of them having distinct
personalities and faults. Janice de Belen definitely steals the show,
with her character’s frank humor and moments of tenderness and genuine
sincerity making her irresistible and entertaining to watch.

Where the film falls short is in its final
act where you can feel the movie overextend its stay. There are lots of
moments when the movie could’ve ended, but it just goes on and on even
if its not progressing the story in any way. There are also some scenes
that employ shaky camera work, perhaps to achieve a sense of realism or
authenticity, but it makes the quality of those sequences amateurish.
But overall, the film’s tight script and the way it reaches back to its
characters’ personal histories and condenses it all in the present
proves that if you have a good story, you just need to tell it well to
make a good movie. If only mainstream Philippine cinema were more like
this.